96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is equal to the amount of toll for grinding, when the miller 

 knows enough to get his two quarts of " clear Indian." There 

 is no harm in repeating a remark found in another part of this 

 paper, that well-fed, well-kept animals are usually not infected 

 with vermin. 



But with the food good clear water is essential, and it should 

 be soft. Creatures will not do so well on hard water ; it makes 

 the hair rough and staring, and often affects the digestion 

 seriously. "Will it be believed that there are yet in Massachu- 

 setts many farmers so thriftless, inconsiderate, shiftless, and 

 cruel, as to drive their stock often many rods from the barn to 

 drink at a brook or pond. So long as rain is sent from heaven, 

 no man need be without sweet, soft water for his stock. From 

 30 to 36 inches of rain fall annually in the Northern States, of 

 which a barn only 30 feet by 40 feet would catch from 630 to 

 864 barrels during the year, or two barrels a day, which would 

 water a pretty good stock ; but it would not be necessary to 

 have a cistern of so large capacity as that, as the water would 

 be always coming in ; a cistern ten feet diameter and ten feet 

 deep, holding about two hundred barrels would be ample, and 

 this may be built very cheaply and securely too. 



Besides thousands of acres of nominally waste lands, which 

 as such might be reclaimed by draining, there are thousands of 

 acres mowed and cultivated which would be doubled in value 

 by underdraining ; whenever water stands in a hole two and a 

 half feet deep, in the spring after vegetation starts, drains will 

 be of use. 



In mentioning some of the advantages of underdraining, it 

 will appear that the farmer who neglects this is guilty of great 

 waste. Underdraining prevents drouth ; it renders the soil 

 earlier in the spring ; it keeps off the effect of frosts and cold 

 weather in the fall, thus lengthening the season at both ends ; 

 it allows us to work sooner after rains ; it prevents the winter- 

 killing of grain by heaving out ; it enables us to deepen the 

 surface soil ; it improves the texture of the soil for the use of 

 the roots ; it warms the lower part of the soil ; it prevents 

 the formation of a hard crust in summer ; it creates a circula- 

 tion of air and gasses through the drained soil most valuable 

 for the food of plants. 



